Remarks on the Circulation over the Southern Hemisphere in FGGE and on Its Relation to the Phases of the Southern Oscillation

Abstract

The circulation anomalies over the whole Southern Hemisphere in the First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE) were not those that one would expect in either extreme of the Southern Oscillation; examples of the anomalies in such extremes are given. The zonally averaged pressure gradients between 50 and 65°S in FGGE when compared with those of several other years turned out to be abnormally strong in winter (2.5σ above the mean), and moderately strong in summer (1.4σ. above the mean). The 500 mb heights were above normal in middle latitudes and below normal at high latitudes when compared with station data from series 16?29 years long. As the computations are based on operational analyses they are not final, although the conclusions are unlikely to be changed by the use of the complete FGGE data set.